Delicious (previously Del.icio.us) is a free bookmarking web site that allows users to save and display favourite web sites across the internet and track hot topics. It gives you the ability to share information with other users. As Genny Bellamy explains it is rather like a "masterclass". "In its simplest form it is basically an electic online internet directory of people's browsing habits but it is also an example of "collective intelligence" that constantly adds, reviews and filters new information to help users to find the best information on a topic without having to trawl through a lot of junk" explains Cate Sinnaduri of SPC. Another advantage of sites such as Delicious is that your favourite sites are stored online and can be located on any computer you use, for example at work or at home. Besides keeping favourite links. Delicious also provides an organisational system to keep the tags in your word cloud managable and therefore easier to locate.
How this system can work in the classroom
I think the most obvious way this tool can be used in the classroom is for individual or group research. Teachers can add students to their Delicious site thereby having control over what sites they visit during a lesson as well as monitoring the work being done. For example, if I was teaching a lesson on Kenneth Slessor I could have 3 sites that I wanted the students to visit and read before finishing with a quiz from another site. By adding them to my Delicious site I can see if they have completed the work set following my directions.
Teahers can also use Delicious to contribute and benefit from an online professional learning community. We can see instantly what sites are the most popular on a particular topic and gather good resources quickly. We can also follow the blogs/articles/reviews of other educators and learn from what they are doing with their students.
Both teachers and students could also use this site to manage their own individual favourite sites etc and with the private button they can tag items they don't want to share with others.
What a great idea! by adding your students to your delicious account you could guide the students in their research. We all know how long it can take to find appropriate websites using google, this application can assist the teachers and then the students and cut down on precious search time.
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